Consider Biking Newsletter - March 2009

Consider Biking is proud to have driven the creation of one of our cycling community's greatest needs - a Bicycle Usability Map! See the invitation to an Open House below.

Also, we'd like to thank you for your patience during our organization's brief absence from the web. We are busy developing a resource intensive and engaging site to meet the needs of all bicyclists in Central Ohio. Please stay tuned in the next month as we enhance the site and introduce functionality.

Bicyclists chart future of Consider Biking

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Wow... What a weekend for the advancement of cycling in Central Ohio!

Consider Biking convened a group of 36 bicyclists for two days of strategic planning for our organization and cause. By all accounts, this gathering was a first....the most representative and most significant summit of the bicycling leadership ever held in our region. We had the participation of every form of cyclist and representatives from bike shops, bike clubs, traffic engineers, engineering planning consultants, several universities/colleges, health professionals, elected officials, environmental & greenway groups, media professionals, outlying geographic communities, major corporations and stakeholder organizations. We can't imagine a more diverse set of perspectives in one room!

The group was facilitated by Jeremy Grandstaff, a professional from the National Alliance for Biking and Walking. We left the weekend with a shared vision, a concise mission, a set of guiding values, and five strong goals for Consider Biking to frame its work to achieve the mission. Additionally, the group spent much of Sunday developing and prioritizing action plans to guide our work in the coming three years.

On behalf of our Board of Directors, we'd like to thank this group for the willingness and commitment to provide their wisdom, experience, and perspective to promoting bicycling in Central Ohio! We know that everyone left with energy and clarity.

Regional Bicycle Suitability Map - By the Cyclists...For the Cyclists!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The long-awaited bicycle suitability map is near completion. It's been a like a set of rolling hills to get where we are.

Consider Biking began advocating for an expanded scope, comprehensive bike suitability map last August. It took us almost 30 meetings between city officials, municipal officials, and potential funders, to influence the commitment and engagement of the core groups to bring this map to reality. We couldn't be more pleased that MORPC has provided the data analysis and leadership to get "lines on the map."

Consider Biking was not only instrumental in corralling the appropriate partners around the project, but bringing the voice of everyday cyclists to the process. We felt it was important to have a map for bicyclists...created by bicyclists. We put out a call for volunteers to provide feedback and pour over the draft maps, and received over 70 responses!

There will be an Open House on Tuesday, March 10 from 5:30 - 7:30 at MORPC. The address is 111 Liberty Street in the Brewery District. Feel free to attend the open house any time during the two hour period. Please RSVP to Bernice Cage, bcage@morpc.org or by phone 233-4157.

What else are we working on?

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Consider Biking is building on the great momentum and successes of past years. You've read how we convening key stakeholders in the cycling community to help us develop a Strategic Plan this past weekend.

Other significant inititives we've been working on include:

applying on behalf of Columbus as a "Bicycle Friendly Community,"

working with Columbus to unveil a "Share the Road" campaign on High Street,

working with Leadership Columbus to develop "toolkits" to introduce to workplaces to encourage cycling to work,

planning our Bike to Work Week Celebration event,

planning BikeColumbus Tour with Mayor Coleman on May 30th,

planning the 6th annual Ride of Silence for May 20th,

extending our reach and influence to surrounding communities like Hilliard, Delaware, and Lancaster,

and attending the League of Bicyclists' Summit in D.C. to advocate our cause to Ohio's elected officials.

If you love bicycling, and would like to help, please contact us! Otherwise...stay tuned!

Be Counted - Join Today!

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Consider Biking is a member-supported organization. We can only accomplish our goals through the support of our cycling constituents. There are over 130 peer organizations across the country, demonstrating a need for cycling advocacy groups. Many of these organizations have THOUSANDS of members, and benefit by the financial support, and the "body of cyclists" that stand behind them when they advocate for enhancements to cycling accommodation.

We'd like to ask you to join Consider Biking. We need your support to represent our common interests in Central Ohio.

You benefit by knowing we'll have the resources to fight for our needs. You'll benefit by knowing that we're working hard so you can "just ride." You'll benefit by knowing we partner with strong coalitions to advance the healthy movement of people, not just cars. You'll benefit by knowing we coordinate unique events that serve some of the dynamic segments of our cycling audience. And, you'll benefit by helping us become the primary information resource for bicyclists in Central Ohio.

Your membership donation to Consider Biking is tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law. We thank you for your support.

The Dispatch report that Columbus Rides Bikes shared on Facebook today is entitled "More crashes come with more bicycle traffic on dedicated lanes," and discusses the new lanes and the number of accidents that have happened there. None of these accidents/crashes has been fatal.

So... you can read the article and get the statistics. Here's a summary of them, though, with a quote from the article:
...the number of crashes has jumped. Between 2012 and 2015, there were five crashes involving bicycles on Summit between Hudson and East 5th Avenue.…

In a move that has left quite a few people stranded in Columbus, the ride-sharing company Car2Go has announced today that they're pulling out of the local market as of May 31.

car2go is saddened to announce that we have made the difficult decision to suspend our operations in Columbus as of May 31. Read why here: https://t.co/gRSibUhotB
— car2go Columbus (@car2goColumbus) May 24, 2018
This has got me more than a little pissed off and very inconvenienced.

There's no doubt - Car2Go improved the quality of my family's life for the past few years while they were active in town. As a one-car family where I rode my bike and took the bus most days, Car2Go filled in the gap nicely when we needed that extra set of wheels to get ourselves places.

Here's the news they sent out via their website today:

HELLO,
We’re writing to let you know that after careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue car2go service in Columbus, effective May 31, 2018.
In 201…

I've been out with the flu for a few days (no, I'm not oinking), and I missed this surprising post from Jeff Stephens of Consider Biking back on October 9th. Suffice to say that Jeff took some time to sit back and watch the behavior of our city's cyclists, and was dismayed at what he saw. I'm in complete agreement with Jeff on this issue. Simply too many Columbus cyclists do not obey the law. But let's look at the reasons that Jeff proposed in his commentary: Why are you riding this way? Are you so self-absorbed, that the world revolves around you? Are you just opportunistic since the bicycle gives you the opportunity to cheat traffic? Are you “expressing yourself” with your nonchalant coolness, hipness, whatever? Or, do you just not know any better? Do you just follow the example of the guy/gal in front of you because you’re new to urban bicycling? (I think it’s the latter.)Jeff's statement breaks the possible reasons for this behavior down into two extrem…